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That only shows the degree of privacy while browsing not how effective the Windows firewall is or isn't! With the av and firewall included in the software run here I can browse while in a VM and still see the web filtering inplace since the protection is extended onto VMs as well as the host OS. (XP Mode, W8 Developer Preview, etc.)

One thing I agree is prefering a paid over free program and the need to run several rather then one or two! The most common problem found with the freebies is needing one for this and another for that and then another and another and finally I want one good one that actually works! Rather then another 2yr. license I'm looking at the lifetime license offer by one company.

The recent inquiry on that met with a response from a product specialist who explained when the life time offer was first introduced you had the option to license up to 10 machines. Mostly it applies to one machine only for the life of that one machine. If you build a new case for example you would need a new license.

That would come down to spending only $.08 plus $.002 a day over a 4yr. period. 8.2 pennies a day isn't bad at all for the full range of protections this one apparently offers. But it's even more effective when you make sure to uncheck the new toolbar items and change of home page seen often when downloading some other freeware like CCleaner.

The addons what most may not realize tend to intrude on your privacy as far as browsing habits as well as leave your system a bit more open to exploits.

That it won't! For testing a firewall as well as other system protections there are some security sites that will evaluate the effectiveness. You usually have to sign up and download a utility they provide however to run the tests.

Come on Night Hawk, YOU know Shields Up is the best one out there to check if a system is secure. It was given a "thumbsup" by Gordon at MPC magazine. Also it is one of the only free products that give you piece by piece security checks. This really surprised me that you feel that this isn't a good way to check your system security
YOU"RE always saying in chat that better to be secure and save yourself hours of rebuilding your system for downloading a so-called freebee (freebee = Warez) online that will FUBAR you entire computer.

I install my programs on a separate partition and I categorise my "Start Menu".
If I do that with AVG, the next time there is a program update, it installs itself to the OS partition.
It also creates a new "Start Menu" folder and desktop shortcut.

Hiyya Ricorik welcome - not keen on AVG the site is becoming quite "invasive" with the constant add ons for the search bar etc - have you tried Comodo Premium free - best firewall around and very thorough.

Still for my money I get my ISS for AUD$0.07 a day and I haven't had a problem in nearly three years. Depends on whether you want to constantly wander around looking for the best and free (which I don't understand to be honest) and as always depends on how careful or reckless one is on the net

Mike Lonewolf,
Just to me clear, I'm was not saying anything one way or the other about the usefulness of Steve Gibson's website and tools... but I will do so now: I have used his website since it was first put online - he is a bit nuts about somethings - but overall, the site has good info and tools. It is because of Steve's podcasts that I use/like Hamachi as a VPN client. I waited until he dealt with the security of how it negotiates the connections before I started using it. This was before LogMeIn bought the product.

Remote port scanning has value. For a quick test, I use GRC; for a longer test, I use a website that will scan all ports - but there is a danger in doing that - so I'll not link to it here. [The danger being: the test takes hours. People typically start it and come back later to see the results. You could be giving some blackhat/bot a list of exploitable ports to work on while you were away. Or worse yet, you see open ports and you leave them open without further investigation. And yes, it is possible to have "open" but secured ports.]

The scope of my post was very limited - it was to merely point out that the port scan that you linked to will not help one evaluate the performance difference between the stock firewall and a paid one. It will give feedback one how well/poorly a particular firewall is setup - which might have been your point all along and I just misunderstood.

And to the OP - so as to not be totally useless to the original topic at hand - I'll make a suggestion that will probably not ingratiate me in any camp. I suggest using MSE even with its poor track record and the issues being discussed here: Question about MSE

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